Daijiworld Media Network

Adelaide, Feb 15 : After India's fabulous victory against Pakistan in the opening match of World cup, Indian team director, Ravi Shastri said "It feels fabulous. You have played some great games against Pakistan. It's a massive contest. If you look at this format of the World Cup, it was a massive game. After today, India don't play until next Sunday and if we had not got off to a good start, just that waiting game could kill you. So it was important to get off to a start. Hats off to the guys, they were absolutely professional and clinical with their performance with bat, ball and in the field. Take stock, be consistent and like I told you in the morning, I repeat it, if there's one team that can take Australia out of this World Cup, it is this Indian cricket team."

"Today you just saw flashes, they will get better. Very good side (South Africa), top three in the world. They have a great record in World Cup cricket. They've not won a World Cup event as yet, but you look for consistency, making it to the semis or even the final at times, they are up there on a regular basis and it's a tough game. The average age of the side is 25 and if a bloke is not prepared to enjoy at that age, he'll get a kick up the back side and be told get out there and enjoy it with the mates, especially after a win like this against Pakistan, you must celebrate. I think the performance that impressed me the most, bat, ball and in the field, they were just a unit. In the batting department there were partnerships. If a wicket went they didn't do anything stupid or go crazy." he said

"They built another partnership, as opposed to the one-day series, which you saw a little while earlier where they lost three, four wickets. When they bowled, they did the same thing. It was a good over by Shami and it was backed up by another good one by Umesh and you've got to work in pairs. It's not just batting where you have partnerships, even in bowling, if you bowl well in tandem you will build the pressure. That was the best part of the game, they worked together and they worked as a cohesive unit. You can only be greedy in this (on areas to concerned about), you can't be happy with the win. You've got to take that bar up. If you want to be in the knockout stage, looking to try and defend this cup, you have to get a little better and there is still room for improvement. Just stay focussed, remember all the good things you did in this game and try and repeat it. Don't go by who the opposition is, just execute your plans properly and it doesn't matter if it is Australia, Pakistan, any other team. You do your job properly, you are out there with a fair chance of winning every game.'" he concluded